My Side of the Story: Swamp Monster
by Fegerrific
Summary: It's official. I am the worst friend in the world. What kind of person would intentionally try to ruin a friend's business for the sake of a get-rich-quick scam? Well, not a very nice one, let me tell you. This is my story…
1. Friends and Fears

**What does it mean to be a good friend? I'm not sure if I can tell you that, as I've probably won first prize for worst friend. Earlier this week, I was caught trying to ruin my friend's business in a petty attempt to get rich. I was prepared to accept the consequences for my actions and serve jail time. But Frank, being the best friend ever, not only refused to press charges, but made me his business partner as well. I'm still not sure if I could forgive as readily as he did. **

**It's time I tell the whole story. I'll start at the beginning, when this whole mess began. It was during one of our usual Saturday lunch dates…**

"You look tired, Frank. What's up?" Brock asked, popping a chip into his mouth with a crunch.

Frank yawned. "Just been really busy lately. Ever since the city built the new highway outside my tour shack, I've been swamped, if you'll pardon the pun."

"New highway?" Brock asked between bites.

"Where do you live?" Frank asked with a roll of his eyes. "I thought I'd mentioned it once or twice…It's been a huge deal, all the construction. But now that it's finished, it means that I'm raking in the cash with all the tourists coming in now."

Brock frowned in annoyance. "Never been any construction anywhere near me. That's not fair."

Frank gave his friend's shoulder a gentle squeeze. "I'm sorry. Are you mad now?"

Brock's forced grin never met his eyes. "Of course not. I'm sure that next Monday, there'll be a line for my tour that'll rival yours!"

**Of course, there wasn't any line outside my swamp tour Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or…oh, you get the idea. But there WERE bills piling up in my mailbox, all marked with FINAL NOTICE. On Friday, after five consecutive days of next to no business, I leaped on my airboat and roared off into the swamp to blow off some steam. As I was aimlessly steering the boat, going nowhere in particular, I stumbled into a small cave.**

"Hmmm, I don't remember this place," Brock muttered under his breath, tying up his boat and sneaking into the cave. He flicked on his headlamp, bathing the cave in a feeble, yellow glow. "What's this?" Brock got down on his hands and knees and explored the rock face. "A tunnel?" Forgoing all common sense, Brock squeezed his way through the small opening.

**That tunnel led straight to Frank's tour area! I never knew how close we really were to each other. I saw my friend steering a boatload of people through the cave and, I'm ashamed to say, my blood started to boil.**

Furious now, Brock waited until Frank was well out of sight before squeezing back through the tunnel, a wicked idea forming in his mind. After returning to his shack, he booted up his laptop to find an appropriately ghastly costume.

"Hello, is this Ghoulish Getups, Incorporated?" Brock sang into the phone. "Yes, I wanted to order the Deluxe Swamp Monster costume. Is it in stock? Great, how much?" Brock winced when he heard the final total, but pressed on, hoping that he would quickly make it up in the revenue he would earn from this investment. "Express shipping? Fantastic! Thanks so much!" Brock shut his phone and grinned.

**The costume arrived the next week. I wore it around the house over the weekend, admiring my getup in the mirror and practicing my bloodcurdling roars. I was afraid I would lose my voice before I could even get in a trial run spooking it up!**

**That Monday, I waited for Frank's airboat to motor its way into the cave…**


	2. You Meddling Kids

"And so, folks, this cave is the pride and joy of Frank Jenkins' Swamp Tours!" Frank announced to his boatload of tourists as he steered into the cave. His headlamp gave off a feeble glow in the near-darkness. As the guests 'ooh-ed' and 'ahh-ed' in all the right places, an ominous growl echoed through the cave. "Whoa, someone must not've had breakfast today," Frank joked uneasily.

Suddenly, Frank's headlamp lit on the reptilian feet of Brock's costume. "Wh-what's that?" a woman asked in fear.

Brock stepped fully into the headlamp's glow and growled threateningly. The tourists screamed in horror as Frank jerked the boat around as quickly as possible, trying to get away from the awful beast. Brock roared loudly at the retreating boat before vanishing into the darkness.

**And that was my first successful scare. Everyone on the boat was scared away and came to my swamp tour instead! I gambled on when Frank would give tours, but he's a bit of a creature of habit, so I managed to guess most of them.****  
**

**This went on for, what, about a month? And then, finally fed up with my antics, Frank called in those sleuths to investigate. I thought I scared them witless – it was one of my finer performances, if I do say so myself. So when they showed up at my place, I figured they wanted a tour. I had no idea that he'd hired a TEAM of investigators! And one with their own K-9 unit! Briefly, I considered calling off the mission, but I was entirely too arrogant to think that I would get caught. I hoped that they would blame it on that battle-axe, Maria Webb, and leave me alone.**

"You're welcome to look around wherever; I've got nothing to hide," Brock told the lanky teen sleuth and his dog. They ambled off into the swamp and Brock raced away to scramble into his costume. 'I'll scare those two goofballs so bad, they'll be too scared to think straight."

**I really screwed myself up here, chasing them right to my secret tunnel! In my arrogance, I wrote it off as nothing and snuck back to see if I could frighten any more fools away from Frank's tour.**

**As luck would have it, his boat motored into the cave, carrying the ugliest one couple I'd ever seen in my life.**

Brock roared and snarled at the couple in the airboat. In spite of Frank's protests, they leaped out of the airboat and dashed through the swamp in a blind panic while the costumed Brock chased after them. Suddenly, Brock felt himself being hoisted high into the air as a net closed around him. He thrashed and snarled in the net as the sleuths appeared from their hiding places, cheering at their successful trap.

"I called the police," Frank gasped as he jogged onto the scene. "So who is it, anyway?"

The blonde sleuth cut down the net; Brock flopped to the ground and was quickly tied up.

"Let's find out. Mr. Jenkins, would you like to do the honors?"

Brock grimaced under his mask. "Goodbye, Frank," he thought to himself. "You're gonna hate me forever."

**Most awful feeling in the world, knowing that you've let a friend down. But Frank saw through the foam rubber and forgave me, even if I didn't deserve it. He's the best friend in the world and I'm thrilled to work for him. It's better than making license plates any day.**


End file.
